JAIN DATABASE at sunsite.unc.edu Jain Study Center of North Carolina Federation of JAINA Information/comments to: varia@med.unc.edu ============================================================================ **JainChrs (2/16/93) **** By : Ravi Mehta, Jain Center of Central Florida *************************************************************** JAINISM VS. CHRISTIANITY Jainism was originally established by 1st Tirthankar Aadi Nath (Rishabhav Dev) and modified by 24th Tirthankar Mahavira.Mahavira was born in 599 B.C. at Kundalpuri in the vicinity of Vaishali Nagari (a city in Northeast India). He was born into the royal family of Kshatriyas (Hindu warrior class). His father was King Siddhartha, his mother Queen Trishala Devi and his older brother was Nandivardhaman. Jainism spread it's influence into Indian States, starting from Bihar, Orrisa, Utterpradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and many others. Now it has spread to the entire world by Jains migrating to other countries. Queen Trishala after conception saw 14 beautiful and auspicious dreams at midnight. She narrated her dreams to King Siddharth. The King called the soothsayers for the interpretation of dreams and they unanimously said, "Sir, Her Highness will be blessed with a noble son. The dreams augur the vast spiritual realm, the child shall command and Her Highness will become the Universal Mother." After nine months and fourteen days, Queen Trishala delivered a baby boy. The boy was named Vardhaman meaning "ever expanding". At the age of 30, after his parents death, he renounced his kingdom and all his worldly riches. He became an ascetic and spent twelve years practicing various penances and austerities. One day, when he was seated on the bank of the Rijukala River, near Jrimbika village, he plunged into deep meditation. He was suddenly showered with omniscience of absolute knowledge (Kavlya Gyana) which has no limitation of time or space. Jesus Christ was born by immaculate conception to Mary and Joseph, direct descendants of King David, in the city of Bethlehem where they had gone to pay taxes. Before conception, an angel appeared at different times to Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth (Mary's cousin) to tell them that Mary would conceive a son by the Holy Spirit, and his name would be Jesus, which means "Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace". Jesus and his brothers worked with Joseph. At the age of 12, during a visit to Jerusalem, Jesus was separated from his parents. They found him in the Temple teaching and answering questions of the high priests. This was his first acknowledgement of "going about my father's (God's) business." At about age 30, Jesus began his ministry by spending 40 days in the desert, after which he came to his cousin, John the Baptist (who had been preaching the coming of God's son, the Savior) and was baptized in the Jordan River. From that point, until his crucifixion 3 years later, he ministered by healing, spreading the gospel (salvation by grace), teaching his 12 disciples to carry on his messages, and preparing for his death. After Jesus was crucified, Christianity has spread from the middle east to Italy and other European countries by the disciplesand early members of the "church" spreading the message of salvation through Christ. From there, others have carried the message to the world. Jainism has two major scriptures, MAHAVIR VANI and JAIN SUTRAS. Jainism is based on the major principles of human evolution (8,400,000 births required to have a human birth), Karmic Law (laws of cause and effect), Reincarnation, non- violence, and live & let live. These two scriptures are scientific and technical. More than 7 million people in India are Jains, and 25,000 in North America. Jainism has two major branches, Swetambar and Digambar. Swetambar is further divided into Deravasi and Sthanakvasi. Deravasi worship an idol of Mahavir in Derasar, while in Sthanakvasi there is no idol in the worship place called Upashraya. Christianity has one book of scriptures- THE HOLY BIBLE-, which teaches history, guides for living, heaven (where God is) & hell (place of eternal punishment for sins), and salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians maintain that this book is the holy word of God, written in scrolls by many men through thousands of years. King James of England had scholars from all over to translate the original scrolls from Greek/Hebrew, then they compared the translations and wrote the KING JAMES BIBLE. In the 20th century, many scholars have translated the scriptures into modern English from the original Greek. Christianity is divided into 2 groups, Catholic and Protestants. The Catholic believe that Mary was also without sin like Christ and is an intermediary to him through prayers, and that you must do penance and works to be forgiven for sin. Protestants believe Mary was totally human (with sin) and that personal salvation comes through Christ's death and resurrection for all mankind. Protestants also feel that they can pray directly to Jesus. Catholic use the Crucifixion in their churches, while Protestants use only the cross. Protestants are subdivided into various groups such as Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. with slight differences in dogma. As Christians, the work has always been spread the news of salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection to the ends of the earth. Through personal profession of faith, Christianity is the largest religion in the world, more than 1.5 billion people and growing. Jains celebrate 2 major events, MAHAVIR JAYANTI (birthday of Mahavir) and PARYUSHAN (to stay near to God/Godess/all that is) DAYS OF JAIN FESTIVAL. Christians also celebrate 2 major events, CHRISTMAS (birth of Jesus Christ) and EASTER (celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead). By: Ravi Mehta Jain Center of Central Florida C/o Rajendra Mehta 1689 Grange Circle Longwood, FL 32750 (407) 260-6459